It was all hands on deck Friday night as Ryle defeated Covington Catholic 30-14 for the first time since 2016.
The highly anticipated match up consisted of two first-year starting quarterbacks for their respective teams with Colonels junior Cash Harney and Raiders junior Nathan Verax, who took over the position from his brother Logan who graduated last season. Harney started five games his freshman year at Beechwood.
“You always know coming into this matchup how good of a program they (CovCath) are,” Raiders head coach Mike Engler said. “Not only did we find our strengths and weaknesses, but man our guys played one heck of a game.”
After Harney developed a little bit of a rhythm in the first quarter, he cashed in on a 14-yard run to put the Colonels up 7-0 and cap off a 77-yard drive in the opening seconds of the second quarter.
Ryle had a quick, but risky response of their own on a fourth down decision soon after. Verax connected with junior receiver Landon Lorms for a 16-yard one arm grab in the endzone.
“Lorms is the most sure-handed guy on our team,” Verax said. “On that play, I knew I could find him in the source of trouble and he chose a great time to come up big for us.”
Some miscues followed, penalties derailing CovCath drives while the Raiders had a turnover as the two entered halftime gridlocked at 7-7.
Ryle opened the second half with possession and what looked to be a three-and-out after a mishandled snap, Jacob Savage broke off a 50-yard run and the Raiders later turned it into a Verax touchdown.
“Of all the big plays I got at the end of tonight, it was all a creation of other guys stepping up before each play,” Verax said.
The penalty bug caught the Colonels once again on their opening drive of the half, pinning them into a 1st and 35 situation.
Ryle’s counter drive looked promising until Verax was intercepted by CovCath senior defensive leader Tate Kruer, who managed to run the ball into Raiders territory.
“Turning the ball over always sucks but with the way our defense was able to get stops tonight, it gave me the confidence not to get down or anything,” Verax said.
Harney went down with an unknown injury on the next play after a hard fall and never returned to play. Dylan Gaiser entered and threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to the left corner of the endzone to junior receiver Donovan Bradshaw. Bradshaw reached over the defender to help tie the game at 14 with a minute left in the third.
That’s when good turned to bad for CovCath. Threatened with two tough third down situations, Verax rushed for a first down and connected with Lorms to later set up a 20-yard touchdown run for Savage to give Ryle a 21-14 lead with 8:23 remaining.
A fumble then turned into another Raiders score, making it 28-14 with 6:31 remaining. A safety then followed as the Colonels fourth quarter miscues were too much to overcome.
Ryle’s student section flooded the field as the team celebrated their opening victory.
“With the plays our guys made, it just doesn’t get much better than that,” Engler said. “There’s no measure of the kind of momentum it gives us going forward.”
Looking to regroup from the loss, head coach Eddie Evinston and his CovCath squad will face another tough opponent in Highlands at home next week.
Ryle’s defense forced CovCath into three turnovers which was a big key to the win.
“We returned 10 defensive starters which gives us a pretty legit defense,” Engler said. “We like where we’re at and I feel our guys can really do some damage this year.”
The Raiders will look to carry over this momentum next week as they’ll face Conner in their first road matchup of the season.
“I always believe the biggest improvement is from game one to game two,” Engler said. “The more we improve this week, the better we’ll be down the road.”
Raiders 30, Colonels 14
Covington Catholic– 0-7-7-0– 14
Ryle– 0-7-7-16 – 30
Scoring Plays
2nd Quarter
(CC) Harney 14-yard run (11:48) Weitzel kick
(R) Verax 16-yard pass to Lorms (7:37) Moses kick
3rd Quarter
(R) Verax 2-yard run (9:52) Moses kick
(CC) Gaiser 24-yard pass to Bradshaw (1:07) Weitzel kick
4th Quarter
(R) Savage 20-yard run (8:23) Moses kick
(R) End zone fumble recovery (6:31) Moses kick
(R) Safety (4:39)
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Ryle 102 (Verax 10-17), CovCath 72 (Harney 9/16, Gaiser 1/1, Queen 1/1)
Rushing Yards: Ryle 185 (Savage 13-104, Verax 7-46, Galicia 10-35), CovCath 142 (Harney 14-95, Gaiser 11-35, Kruer 1-10, Queen 1-2)
Receiving: Ryle (Lorms 5-60, Lee 2-19, Savage 2-15, Karwath 1-8), CovCath (Bradshaw 3-47, Brooks 2-15, Gaiser 3-10, Pitzer 1-2, Kruer 2-minus 3)
First Downs: Ryle 12, CovCath 8
Turnovers: Ryle 2, CovCath 3
Penalties: Ryle 7-35 CovCath 8-59
Records: Ryle 1-0, CovCath 0-1